Signs You Might Be Pregnant

Am I pregnant? While some symptoms of being pregnant may shoe up just about the time you have missed your period, or 1 to 2 weeks later, there are other early signs that can tell you if you are pregnant. In fact, about 7 out of 10 women experience certain common symptoms within the first six weeks of pregnancy.

If you are not keeping track of your monthly period or it varies widely from month to month, it may be difficult to be sure of your next period. However, if you begin to experience some of these symptoms, there is a high likelihood that you are pregnant. Keep in mind that not all women will experience all these symptoms.

Food Aversions

If you are newly pregnant, it is common to feel repelled by the aroma of certain foods, certain aromas will tend to stimulate your gag reflexes. While it may be difficult to be sure, food aversion may be one of the side effects of increasing levels of estrogen in the system. It is also possible to find that some foods you previously enjoyed are suddenly totally repulsive.

Mood Swings

It is also common to experience mood swings when you become pregnant. This is partly due to hormonal changes that are affecting the amounts of neurotransmitters in the brain. Different people will react in different ways to these changes. For instance, some women will feel heightened emotions, good or bad, while others may feel more anxious or depressed.

Abdominal Bloating

The hormonal changes that occur during the early stages of pregnancy may leave a woman feeling bloated. This feeling is normally similar to the feeling that some women will experience right before the onset of their monthly period. That is why you may feel that your clothes are suddenly snug at the waistline, even at an early stage when the uterus is still small.

Frequent Urination

Shortly after becoming pregnant, changes in hormones will trigger a series of events that increase the rate at which blood is flowing through the kidneys. This will cause the bladder to fill up more rapidly than usual, thus you feel like peeing more frequently. You may experience this symptom as early as 6 weeks into the first trimester of your pregnancy. This symptom will persist or intensify as the pregnancy progresses. As your pregnancy progresses, the blood volume in your system dramatically increases. This leads to more fluid being processed in your system, ending up in the bladder. The symptom will intensify as the growing baby applies more pressure on the bladder.

Fatigue

While it is not exactly clear what causes the feeling of fatigue or exhaustion during early pregnancy, medics believe that it is possibly due to rapidly increasing levels of progesterone. Additionally, morning sickness and the need to frequently urinate at night may contribute to your feeling of sluggishness too. However, this feeling will start to wear off once you get to your second trimester, but fatigue will usually reoccur during late stages of the pregnancy. This is because you will be carrying more weight and a lot of the common discomforts experienced during pregnancy will deprive you of some good night’s sleep.

Swollen, Tender Breasts

Another common early sign of pregnancy is sore and sensitive breasts. This symptom is caused by increasing hormone levels in your system. The swelling and soreness may feel like a heightened version of how the breasts feel right before you experience your monthly period. However, this discomfort should wear off significantly after your first trimester since the body is also adjusting to the changes in hormones.